‘It’s illegal, it’s grandstanding, it’s meant to send a message’: US immigration lawyer on H-1B visa fee hike

The H-1B visa decision is illegal and is a means to pressure companies to stop using the visa, said, immigration lawyer Charles Kuck. He said the US President does not have the authority to implement this fee hike, which should be approved by the US Congress.

In an interview with CNN, Kuck said the “H-1B will never happen”. “The President is the head of the executive branch of the government. That means he can enforce the laws created by Congress. Congress did not authorise a $100,000 fee,” he said, adding that the Congress has authorised immigration, the USCIS, who’s in charge of adjudicating these cases, the ability to recuperate the cost of the case. Kuck said the US administration cannot put an extra fee on top of that.

“So, while they may try this, and they may even publish a regulation that requires it, I can guarantee you a federal court will stop this before it is in effect. It will never see the light of day,” said the lawyer.

When asked if he is insinuating that this is just illegal, Kuck said, “It is illegal, it is grandstanding. It is meant to send a message to companies to stop using the H-1B, which of course is, at the end of the day, it would be damaging to the US economy to not be able to hire the best people in the world. It’s kind of insane. And one other point. I don’t know if you know this but 25 per cent of all doctors in America are foreign nationals on H-1B.”

“I think he is getting some really bad information from the folks surrounding him on immigration,” said Kuck, adding that the visa has been oversubscribed since 1996 and is “not a new thing”. “We have 175 million people working in the US, 65,000 jobs a year to foreign nations with advanced degrees, doing stuff that requires this type of education – that’s a nothingburger in our economy. This is a red herring. This is designed to gin up the masses so we don’t look at what’s really going on,” the lawyer said.

India is the biggest beneficiary of H-1B visas, followed by China.